Time and Touch: Indispensable Assessment Tools

In our culture, time is money. As such, the more time we can save, the more productive and wealthy we become. We organize and miniaturize, striving to develop systems and products that will allow us to do more in less time. We honor this axiom and praise those who embrace it with religious fevor. And it's killing us.

There's no need to wax poetic here. Most people are aware that our culture's obsession with productivity has led to increased work hours and decreased direct human interaction. Real listening and touching take time and require the full presence of two people. Too often listening has been reduced to "communication" in the form of emails, texts, voice mails and the occasional phone call and touch has been reduced to sex. With decreased interaction through intimate whole person listening and meaningful touch comes an increase in cortisol production in the body which, when out of balance with the anabolic hormones, can have serious long term detrimental effects and increase the healing time for musculotendinous injuries. Intimate communication between people takes time and is essential to good health.

Unfortunately, the physiological repercussions within our body are not the only health threat posed by our miserly use of time. The "time is money" principle rules our health care system as well. The health insurance systems that physicians, therapists, and chiropractors must work within precisely regulates the time spent on procedures. Procedures are coded and time limits are tight. Because of this, (and arguably other reasons)physicians often opt to order diagnostic lab tests and scans rather than spend time listening, palpating, and performing manual clinical tests. This a topic of much discussion within the medical community and I invite you to listen to the NPR link below for insight into this issue.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=4&islist=false

This issue is not restricted to physicians or the insurance industry for that matter. Any therapist or chiropractor that takes insurance is bound by codes as well. To spend more time on a patient than the code permits means they are not being reimbursed for some of their time. The temptation for chiropractic and therapeutic mass production is considerable. The therapists and both medical and chiropractic physicians on the Soarbody referral list do not succumb to this pressure and take the necessary time to perform their job to the highest standards. Some massage therapists, bound to our cultures desire to maximize their time and increase production, are too often focused on cranking out clients every hour on the hour, and then suggest the client book again based on the benefits of massage rather than the actual indications for the specific condition. You will not find these therapists on the Soarbody referral list either.

This is much of what dynamic muscular therapy is all about - plugging the "time lesion" in the health system. Clients have often asked me why I do not charge by time for dynamic muscular therapy and why I do not guarantee manual therapy during a session. Dynamic muscular therapy is about seeking a cause of a clients condition and then coming up with a plan to eliminate that cause if possible. This can not be done with a 5 minute intake interview and 50 minutes of massage therapy by itself. It takes careful listening, careful testing, and extensive palpation. You may or may not get massage therapy - in fact, you may be immediately referred to a medical physician. But you will receive the time, attention, and skill level your condition deserves and be much closer to eliminating your condition altogether while receiving all the health benefits that real listening and caring touch can provide.